§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report appeal statistics for (a) Merseyside and (b) Liverpool, on a similar basis to those contained on pages 168 to 172 of the Supplementary Benefits Commission annual report for 1979.
§ Mrs. ChalkerI regret that information is not readily available in the form requested. Information about the Liverpool supplementary benefit appeal tribunal could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost. The following tables give information about Merseyside:
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TABLE 3 Merseyside—Appeals heard and success rates (allowance cases*) Total appeals heard Appellant successful Appellant unsuccessful Subject of appeal 1977 1978 1979 1980 1977 1978 1979 1980 1977 1978 1979 1980 Total appeals 5,311 6,179 4,484 4,163 762 1,118 802 795 4,549 5,061 3,682 3,368 Appeals against amount/ refusal of benefit—unspecified items 1,947 2,019 1,651 1,463 133 189 145 176 1,814 1,830 1,506 1,287 Specified items: Single payments for exceptional needs 3,087 3,126 2,352 2,353 602 860 605 580 2,485 2,266 1,747 1,773 Exceptional circumstances additions 41 70 85 41 6 14 20 7 35 56 65 34 "Living together" 35 45 38 39 10 10 4 7 25 35 34 32 Trade disputes 46 688 108 49 1 19 6 — 45 669 102 49 Allowance for rent 15 16 40 36 4 5 6 11 11 11 34 25 Issue of benefit to third party 32 70 48 57 2 11 3 10 30 59 45 47 Condition of registration 7 21 25 12 1 3 1 2 6 18 24 10 Payment in kind 2 2 1 2 — — 1 — 2 2 — 2 Recovery of emergency payments 2 3 7 2 1 — 1 — 1 3 6 2 Recovery from NI benefits 46 47 63 60 1 — — 1 45 47 63 59 Recovery of overpayments 50 72 64 42 1 7 9 1 49 65 55 41 Report under section 10(1) 1 — 2 7 — — 1 — 1 — 1 7 *Includes 'unemployed' and 'other' allowance cases.
TABLE 4 Merseyside—Appeals heard and success rates (pension cases) Total appeals heard Appellant successful Appellant unsuccessful Subject of appeal 1977 1978 1979 1980 1977 1978 1979 1980 1977 1978 1979 1980 Total appeals 394 417 303 256 96 125 66 67 298 292 236 189 Appeals against amount/ refusal of benefit—unspecified items 133 134 91 81 17 16 14 8 116 118 77 73 Specified items: Single payments for exceptional needs 233 244 172 126 73 105 45 49 160 139 127 77 Exceptional circumstances additions 6 10 11 19 1 2 3 7 5 8 8 12 "Living together" — 2 — 1 — 1 — — — 1 — 1 Trades disputes Allowance for rent 4 — 1 6 2 — — 2 2 — 1 4 Issue of benefit to third party 2 2 5 7 — — — — 2 2 5 7 Condition of registration — — — — — — — — — — — — Payment of emergency — — — — — — — — — — — — Recovery of emergency payments — — — — — — — — — — — — Recovery from NI benefits 2 5 2 1 — — — — 2 5 2 1 Recovery of overpayments 14 20 21 15 3 1 4 1 11 19 17 14 Report under section 10(1) — — — — — — — — — — — —
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the number of beneficiaries, set out under the headings of recipients and dependants for (a) Merseyside and (b) Liverpool in a similar format to that of table 8.1 of the Supplementary Benefits Commission annual report, 1979, for the years 1979 and 1980.
§ Mrs. ChalkerInformation about dependants is not available, but information on recipients of supplementary benefit from local offices in the two areas in November 1979 and December 1980 is as follows:
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Merseyside* Liverpool 1979 1980 1979 1980 Thousands Supplementary Pensions 110 109 30 30
Merseyside* Liverpool 1979 1980 1979 1980 Thousands Unemployed 70 91 28 33 Sick 16 16 5 5 NI widows under 60 2 2 1 1 One parent families 24 25 7 8 Others 2 2 1 1 * Includes Liverpool. Source: 100 per cent. count.
Note- These are the figures for DHSS offices in the local authority areas. It should be noted that DHSS office boundaries are not always conterminous with those of the local authorities.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report for (a) Merseyside and (b) Liverpool for 1979 and 1980 an analysis of the results of appeals to supplementary benefit appeals tribunals under the following heads (i) total number of appeals, (ii) appeals withdrawn or not admitted, 337W (iii) appeals revised and not heard by tribunals, (iv) cases heard by tribunals, (v) decisions revised by tribunals and (vi) decisions confirmed by tribunals.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe following table gives the information requested for Merseyside. Similar information for the Liverpool supplementary benefit appeal tribunal could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Appeals by Type of Clearance (Merseyside region and Liverpool SBAT) Type of Clearance Merseyside Liverpool 1979 1980 1979 1980 (i) Total number of appeals 8,684 7,804 — — (ii) Appeals withdrawn or not admitted 1,449 1,335 — — (iii) Appeals revised and not heard by tribunals 2,448 2,050 — — (iv) Cases heard by tribunals 4,787 4,419 3,005 2,635 (v) Decision revised by tribunals 868 862 — — (vi) Decision confirmed by tribunals 3,919 3,557 — —
Thousands 1979 1980 February May August November February May August November Merseyside* 73 68 90 70 72 72 104 91 Liverpool 28 27 32 28 28 27 35 33 * includes Liverpool. Source: 100 per cent. count.
Note:
These are the figures for DHSS offices in the relevant local authority areas. It should be noted that DHSS office boundaries are not always conterminous with those of the local authorities. Information on the number of registered unemployed for comparable areas is not available, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in respect of supplementary benefit appeal tribunals for (a) Merseyside and (b) Liverpool, for 1979 and 1980, an analysis of attendance and representations at hearings, an analysis of appeals against decisions on exceptional needs payments and an analysis of appeals against decisions on living together as
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§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will publish in the Official Report for (a) Merseyside and (b) Liverpool the deductions made for fuel direct and voluntary savings for 1979 and 1980 in a similar format to the national figures contained in table 10.2 of the annual report of the Supplementary Benefits Commission, 1979;
(2) if he will publish in the Official Report the number, cost, and average amount of exceptional needs payments in (a) Merseyside and (b) Liverpool in each year from 1968;
(3) if he will publish in the Official Report for (a) Merseyside and (b) Liverpool a table showing the number of reckonable expenses taken into account in cases in which exceptional circumstances additions were in payment on the same basis as table 16.1 of the; annual report of the Supplementary Benefits Commission for 1979.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThis information is not available and could not be obtained without disproportionate expense.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the number of unemployed people in receipt of supplementary benefit in thousands and as a percentage of all registered unemployed in (a) Merseyside and (b) Liverpool in February, May, August and November 1979, and in the same months of 1980.
§ Mrs. ChalkerInformation on the number of unemployed people in receipt of supplementary benefit from local offices in Merseyside and Liverpool is as follows:
husband and wife, on a comparable basis to the tables published on pages 124 and 125 of the Supplementary Benefits Commission annual report, 1979.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe following table gives the information that is available. An analysis of attendance and representation for Merseyside, and the information requested for the Liverpool supplementary benefits appeal tribunal, could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
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Merseyside—Appeals Against Decisions on Exceptional Needs Payments 1979 1980 No. of Appeals Lodged No. of Appeals Heard Percentage Heard in which Decision Confirmed No. of Appeals Lodged No. of Appeals Heard Percentage Heard in which Decision Confirmed Pensions * 172 73 * 126 61 Allowances *† 2,352 74 *† 2,353 75 Total 3,550 2,524 74 3,350 2,479 74 * Not possible to give individual regions. † Notpossibletoseparate"unemployed"and"other"allowancecases.
Mersey side—Appeals Against "Living Together" Year Appeals Withdrawn or not Admitted* Revised and not heard by Tribunal* Cases Heard by Tribunal Decisions Revised by Tribunals† Decisions Confirmed by Tribunals† 1979 73 12(16) 23(32) 38 4(11) 34(89) 1980 66 6(9) 20(30) 40 7(17) 33(83) * Figures in brackets shown as percentage of Column 1. † Figures in brackets shown as percentage of Column 4.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish for (a) Merseyside and (b) Liverpool the percentage clearance of supplementary benefit appeals achieved in three, four, five and six or
Percentage of Appeals Cleared within the Periods Stated—Merseyside Region and Liverpool Supplementary Benefits Appeal Tribunal No. of weeks from lodging appeal to 1st tribunal hearing Merseyside Liverpool *1977 1978 1979 1980 1977 1978 1979 1980 3 23.7 24.0 52.2 41.3 28.7 29.6 60.2 50.2 4 50.3 46.3 73.9 60.4 60.1 52.8 77.6 66.7 5 68.9 62.8 85.0 80.2 77.3 66.4 86.1 86.7 6 or more 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 * Calendar Years.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the number of unemployed claimants and the distribution of duration on supplementary benefit for (a) Merseyside and (b) Liverpool in 1979 and 1980, on a similar basis to the national figures contained in table 5.3 of the Supplementary Benefits Commission annual report, 1979.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThis information is not available, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for Social Services in how many cases housing costs were paid direct to the landlord by the Supplementary Benefits Commission in (a) Merseyside and (b) Liverpool in 1979 and 1980.
§ Mrs. ChalkerI am afraid that the information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
340Wmore complete calendar weeks from the date the appeal was lodged for the years ended 31 March 1978, 31 March 1979, 31 March 1980 and 31 March 1981.
§ Mrs. ChalkerI regret that information is not available in the form requested, but the following table gives the information for the immediately preceding calendar years.